Flipping Trash Can

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a new design for a trash can designed to be used in fast food restaurants, in particular. Most trash cans have lids that need to be opened manually, whereas the current invention has a pedal that when stepped on, is used to open the lid. A tray loaded with rubbish will be laid on a board that is placed at a certain angle. When the foot pedal, which is attached to the lid by a spring, is released the board moves and touches the tray at the tip, which flips the tray over and causes all the rubbish to fall in the hole designed for the trash bag.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a trash receiving device more particular a device that allows an easy and efficient way of handling trays.

BACKGROUND

Fast food restaurants all use trash cans that allow their customers to discard their trash after they eat. Most of these trash cans are simple in design. The customer pushes back a flip in the front of the trash can and turns their trays to dump everything from their tray in to a trash receptacle area in the trash can and place their tray on top of the trash can.

This design is not efficient as the customer can spill trash on themselves and the floor creating a mess for the employees of the fast food restaurant to clean up.

Trash cans are widely found in parks, offices, malls, streets, fast food restaurants and in many other public places and facilities. However, people hardly use these trash cans particularly in fast food restaurants. They find it difficult to empty their trays after they finish eating, so many times the trays are being left on the tables for a cleaner to pick them up.

Based on the desirability and the infinitely many needs of human beings, a new design for a trash can was required for an alternative to those used today. A trash can is a container made out of metal, wood or plastic and is used to dispose of waste such as waste paper, food leftovers, and any disposable material.

There is room for improvement in the art.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new design for a trash can designed to be used in fast food restaurants, in particular. Many problems have been solved regarding the fact that the current trash cans are being misused or not used at all because they are difficult to use.

Most trash cans have lids that need to be opened manually, whereas the current invention has a pedal that when stepped on, is used to open the lid. A tray loaded with rubbish will be laid on a board that is placed at a certain angle. When the foot pedal, which is attached to the lid by a spring, is released the board moves and touches the tray at the tip, which flips the tray over and causes all the rubbish to fall in the hole designed for the trash bag.

An electric chip, which uses AA batteries, is being used so that as soon as the lid closes again it will make a sound that says, “Thank You!” Aluminum rollers are used to roll the tray down to a pile of trays in a container.

This design will require less from employers and customers and will be a benefit for fast food restaurants.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Without restricting the full scope of this invention, the preferred form of this invention is illustrated in the following drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of the trash can;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the trash can;

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the trash can;

FIG. 4 shows a cut away side view of the trash can showing the major components;

FIG. 5 shows how a tray moves in the trash can;

FIG. 6 displays the device in operation;

FIG. 7 shows the trash cans with different shapes; and

FIG. 8 shows the different potential locations for the sound trigger.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is demonstrative in nature and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention or its application of uses.

There are a number of significant design features and improvements incorporated within the invention.

The device is a trash can 1. The design is called “flipping trash-can.” The trash can 1 is designed to flip a tray 10 over. FIG. 1 shows a front view of the trash can 1. FIG. 2 shows a side view of the trash can 1. FIG. 3 shows a top view of the trash can.

The major components for the trash can 1 as shown in the cut away view in FIG. 4 are the Foot pedal 20, Spring 30, Lid 40, Cover 50, Hole 60 (for trash bags 65), Rollers 70 and Trays container 80. There is also a frame 90 with a bottom 91, top 92, left side 93, right side 94, back side 95 and front side 96. The trash can 1 can also have an electric chip 500.

The frame 90 is rectangular in shape with the bottom 91 and top 92 attaching to all four sides, the front 96, right 94, left 93 and back 95 with the front 96 attaching to the right 94 and the left 93 in a 90 degree angle and the back 95 attaching to the right 94 and the left 93 in a 90 degree. These sides can be connected through any standard connecting means such as glue, bolts, screws and welds.

There is a lid 40 attached to the top 92 of the trash can 1. The lid 40 is attached to a foot pedal 20 that is positioned in the front of the trash can 1. The foot pedal 20 is a standard foot pedal. The foot pedal 20 is attached to the lid 40 by a spring 27. The spring 27 is attached to the foot pedal 20 and moved down when the foot pedal 20 is moved down by stepping on it. The spring 27 is also attached to lid 40. When the connecting rod 27 moves down it pulls the lid 40 down to an open position. If a tray 10 is on the lid 40 the tray 10 slides down the lid 40 when the lid 40 is on the open position.

Attached to right side 93 and the left side 92 is the rectangular tray block 11 0. The rectangular tray block 110 is in the shape of a “U” with the well of the “U” wider than the height of the tray 10. The rectangular block 110 stops and tips the tray 10 while it is flipped.

Attached to the right side 93 and the left side 92 is the tray slide 120. The tray slide 120 is a flat surface that is at an angle down from the front of the trash can 1. The tray slide's upper surface is made from or coated with a friction reduction surface. In the middle of the tray slide 120 is the rectangular hole 60 which opens up to the trash bag 65. When the tray 10 is flipped the trash 100 falls into the hole 60 and into the trash bag 65. At the bottom of the tray slide 120 is a series of rollers 70 which the flipped tray 10 rolls down into the trays container 80.

The trays container 80 is rectangular in shape with a back and sides. The trays container 80 is designed so that the trays 10 will stack on their side once they roll down the rollers. This keeps the trays 10 in order for easy removal.

In the preferred embodiment, the top 92 will have a tray holding space 17 which will hold the trays 10 for use. The holding space 17 is a flat area large enough to hold a tray.

The trash can 1 omits a little sound to attract children and encourage them to throw away garbage. When they push the door they hear a sound like “Thank you”. This is an electric chip 500, which uses AA batteries in the preferred embodiment. The sound could also be produced by a speaker attached to a sound producing device such as a recorded message and an amplifier which is attached to a trigger and a power source such as a battery. When the tray passes by the trigger the recorded message will play through the speaker. As shown in FIG. 9 the microprocessor 500 or a different sound omitting device and trigger can be in several locations.

The trash can 1 can be made out of metal, wood or plastic and can be used to dispose of waste such as waste paper, food leftovers, and any disposable material.

Operation

The person with the tray 10 steps on the pedal 20 at the bottom of the trash can 1, which opens the cover 50 at the top because of a spring 27 between the pedal and the cover 50 at the top. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the tray 10 slides down until the tray 10 hits the rectangular tray block 110. As soon as the person removes his foot from the pedal 20, the cover 50 hits the tray 10 and flips it upside down, which makes all the trash 100 fall into the trash bag 61. The tray 10 then hits the rollers 70 and slides down to the pile of trays 10 in the tray container 80.

FIG. 6 shows how the tray flips to drop items such as trash 100 into the trash bag 61. The tray 10 with the trash on it is placed on the cover 50 and slides down the cover 50 to the rectangular tray block 110. The tray 10 rests briefly on its side at an angle. When the cover 50 is released it moves forward hitting the back of the tray 10 and flipping it in an orderly fashion. This action deposits the trash 100 from the top of the tray 10 to the hole 60 into the trash bag 61. The flipped tray 10 slides down the trash can's tray ramp 15 inside the body of the trash can 1. The last part of the tray ramp 15 has rollers 70 in the preferred embodiment for the tray to slide down. The trays slides and falls into the tray container 80. The tray container 80 is designed to stack the trays as they come down the tray slide 15.

Alternate Embodiments

There are a number of alternative embodiments for the trash can 1. The trash can 1 can be shaped into different shapes such as into teddy bears and bunnies to attract children and encourage them to keep the place clean as shown in FIG. 7.

Another embodiment is to have a transparent plastic sheet 420 on the side of the trash can 1 to know when the trash bag 65 is full as shown in FIG. 7.

In an additional embodiment, an upper handle could be added to the lid 40 to ease up opening the door of the garbage for handicapped as also shown in FIG. 8.

The trash can 1 can also have a small box inside the body 8 that gives the person who throws the trash some kind of ticket and the restaurant gives the person with the largest number of tickets a promotion or free meals to encourage use of the trash can 1. A ticket dispenser 400 can be attached to the front of the trash can 1 and connected to the microprocessor 500. The ticket dispenser 400 will distribute one or more tickets when the microprocessor 500 tells it that a tray 10 has been run through the trash can 1 as shown in FIG. 7.

Advantages

The design of the current invention is like a small factory in a garbage can. It benefits a lot of people with its ease of use and eases up the process of cleaning. The current invention is designed to be able to satisfy cleanliness, ease of use, durability, practicality, external appearance, simplicity, age expectancy, and strength of material required by a trash can.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the point and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.

As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.

With respect to the above description, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention. 

1. A trash can comprising; a frame where a tray moves down a tray slide and is flipped to deposit items into a receptacle.
 2. A trash can according to claim 1, wherein a lid is attached to said frame.
 3. A trash can according to claim 2, wherein said lid is attached to a foot pedal in front of said frame.
 4. A trash can according to claim 2, wherein said lid is attached to a foot pedal in front of said frame by a spring.
 5. A trash can according to claim 1, where said tray slide has a plurality of rollers.
 6. A trash can according to claim 1, where there is a tray block in the tray slide to flip the tray.
 7. A trash can according to claim 1, said tray slide deposits the trays into a tray container.
 8. A trash can according to claim 1, wherein said receptacle has a trash bag to store the items.
 9. A trash can according to claim 1, wherein said frame has a front side attached to a left and right side with said left and right side attached to a back side.
 10. A trash can according to claim 9, wherein said one or more of said sides are transparent.
 11. A trash can according to claim 1, wherein said trash can is in the shape of an animal.
 12. A trash can according to claim 1, wherein a sound emitting device is attached to the frame and emits a sound when a tray moves through.
 13. A trash can according to claim 1, where said sound emitting device is a microprocessor.
 14. A trash can according to claim 1, wherein said frame has a tray holder on the top.
 15. A trash can comprising; a frame where said frame has a front side attached to a left and right side with said left and right side attached to a back side, where a tray moves down a tray slide and is flipped to deposit items into a receptacle, where a lid is attached to said frame, where said lid is attached to a foot pedal in front of said frame, where said tray slide has a plurality of rollers and a tray block in the tray slide to flip the tray, where said tray slide deposits the trays into a tray container.
 16. A trash can according to claim 15, wherein said lid is attached to a foot pedal in front of said frame by a spring.
 17. A trash can according to claim 15, wherein said receptacle has a trash bag to store the items.
 18. A trash can according to claim 15, wherein said one or more of said sides are transparent.
 19. A trash can according to claim 15, wherein said trash can is in the shape of an animal.
 20. A trash can according to claim 15, wherein a sound emitting device is attached to the frame and emits a sound when a tray moves through. 